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Recent reviews of 'Wrong Faced Cat Feed Collapse'

Boomkat: It wasn't so long ago when SJ Esau's debut release, a fantastic little 7” on the lurvely Twisted Nerve record label popped in for a mid-day brunch – we all kind of fell for its slightly skewed charm and were eager to hear what else the feller had in mind for the future, and finally here it is. What's more confusing is it's on Anticon, yup I said it right, ex-hophop backpackers label extraordinaire Anticon is now issuing wyrd folk? Well I guess it's been on the cards since 13&God, and to be quite honest when I'm listening to SJ Esau I'm surprised how much I can hear the influence of Anticon acts such as Clouddead and Sole. That's not to say that Mr. Esau is a rhyming fellow (he's not) but there's a shared aesthetic – that crumbling recording quality, attention to detail and almost psychedelic song-writing style. This is actually the glue that holds the album together, and although the songs themselves might sound to a casual listener like Pavement being covered by a lesser-heard British folk act, it's a hell of a lot deeper than this when you dig in a little further. For a start there are all sorts of references – BBC Radiophonic Workshop, modern psychedelia, electronica… and then there are the lyrics. Yep you might have guessed from the title of the album that the man's got an oddness about his writing, but little will prepare you for such gems as ‘Cat Track (He has no Balls)' or ‘Lazy Eye'. Thankfully throughout this brightly coloured land of the bizarre SJ Esau manages just about to stay on the right side of zany and never breaches into total dribbling lunacy, allowing you to play the album through without wanting to chuck it at passers by. A crucial and very brave signing for those folks over at Anticon – let's hope this is only the beginning of their venture into fractured folk forms. Recommended.

The Brink: SJ Esau makes his Anticon-label album release on March 13th with Wrong Faced Cat Feed Collapse. SJ Esau is Sam Wisternoff, who grew up and still is a native of, Bristol. He has a past history that is worth taking note of, when his sprawling soundscape of 12 tracks grows and grows on you until it unfolds in your head into a flowering masterpiece of understated composition. Yeah, it knocked me up out of bed, and I let it right on in.

He was half way through a four-year rap career, in the vibrant late eighties UK Bristol scene, at the impressionable age of ten. Yes, TEN. He free-styled with 3D from Massive Attack at local parties, Tricky turned him onto Slick Rick and he was signed to a local label run by no less than Smith and Mighty, under the moniker of TFP. A lot to live up to ? Well, yes and no . Sam has used this heady apprenticeship, and more, to become an artist who has made an album that knows the impact and importance of melody, timing and `feel`; creating atmospheres that tense and then languidly stretch out all over Wrong Faced Cat Feed Collapse. I like his titles too.

humour in melancholy is both a lyrical and an artistic gift that SJ Esau deploys collectively, with dexterous musical creativity. The infusion of drama into the slumped darknes of Queezy Beliefs. A paused quiet.......... then driving distortion, coupled with claustrophobic strings, that explodes on Cat Track (he has no balls), and, the nagging jabs of stabbing horns in Geography (donkey dancing in the bath) over and under subtle hints and light, deft touches of building, growing percussion, all show to great effect this deft touch. I defy you not to get drawn into the eddy and swirl of the swooning Wears the Control, and, in a delicate, understated lope, become tangled in submerged sirens and underwater noises that somehow are competeing with, yet complementing, a harrowingly emotive vocal.

Sam Wisternoff, augmented by local Bristol musicians and artists Max Milton, Sean Talbot, Charlotte Nichols, Helen Sadler and Pippin Sadler, enters almost fabled genre-less territory without a stumble, his eyes firmly glued on a compass bearing heading towards expression, expansion and exploration. One part Pavement, one part Low, one part De La Soul, then the whole thing shaken, not stirred, under the influence of the back-catalogue of the Anticon-label, really only hints and nods at this albums vibes. Using a plethora of instrumentation, including the violin, trumpet, trumbone, clarinet, piano, guitar, bass, percussion, glockenspiel and something called The Bugbrand Light Dependant Theramin ( the creator of which, Tom Bug, mastered the album ) he changes tack and pace from shadowy quiet to explosively loud, subtle hooks to brick walls, featuring vocal melodies that twist and turn and a large fucky chest of folksonic understatement and claustrophobic musical creativity.

Still based in Bristol and still embedded in the cities creative artistic community, Wisternoff has an interesting back-catalogue; Anticon label`s Why?, amongst others, have reworked an albums worth of Wisternoff`s originals on Stop Touching My Cat, released in 2005. Wisternoff is also an active member and co-creator of numerous musical collaborations such as Jeremy Smoking Jacket, feauturing Rose Kemp`s vocals, Onanist Homework Robot and the Guano Ignoramus.

Wrong Faced Cat Feed Collapse knocks on your door a brooding, dark stranger, sells you a bag of bones and talks you into offering him a light to your best cigar. Before you know it, you are pumping his open hand, whilst welcoming him in like a long lost brother who you suddenly know like a best friend. You dont instantly know him, and, you didnt catch his name, but there are a lot of familiar family traits you just know the order they are in is to be trusted. (Paul H)

Future Music: It's been a while since a new jack has come out of Bristol, and SJ Esau
certainly has the goods to share the marquee with stalwarts like Smith
& Mighty, Portishead and Massive Attack. His music can be best—or at
least quickly—described as bedroom angst rock, but the electronic
flourishes that bubble through on such perfectly titled cuts as “Cat
Track (he has no balls)” and “Queezy Beliefs” help cast this divinely
weird set into a dreamlike haze that triggers a new experience with
each successive listen.(Bill Murphy)

Audiversity: Remember Hip Hop Music for the Advanced Listener and Music for the Advancement of Hip Hop ? Back in the waning moments of the 20 th century, the Bay Area collective Anticon was being up front about their plan to take rap music to the next level, and I'll be damned if they didn't do just that. But when was the last time Anticon put out a hip-hop advancing album? Hell when was the last time they put out anything even resembling their own brand of hip-hop (not counting the Darc Mind reissue)? Jel's Soft Money from early 06 maybe or perhaps Sole's Live from Rome released a year earlier than that. Like most of the indie-rap scene, Anticon has moved on. I'm neither condoning or condemning their actions though; sure I miss the days of Selling Live Water and Them , but it's hard to argue with the contagious avant-pop of Why? or the stuttering post-rock of Dosh. And their latest batch of new artists including Bracken (Chris Adams of Hood) and Thee More Shallows have absolutely no foundation in hip-hop, advanced or otherwise. The third and most unfamiliar name of the latest signing wave, on the other hand, does very much fit the mold of a classic Anticon artist background-wise, but much like the rest of the roster, he's moved on.

Sam Wisternoff aka SJ Esau (an accidental anagram for "a jesus") used to be a rapper. He freestyled with 3D from Massive Attack, hung out with Tricky and won second place in the DMC rap championships. Did I mention he wasn't even a teenager by the time he accomplished all this? Before he even turned 12, Wisternoff had already become the star of the Bristol, England rap scene circa the late 80s/early 90s and was signed to Three Stripe Records with his brother (one-half of house duo Way Out West) as the True Funk Posse. Well his rap career peaked and diminished a little early and he set out playing in rock bands and recording experimental pop music under various monikers throughout the 90s before settling in on the SJ Esau multi-faceted sound in recent years.

As revealed on his first release for Anticon, Wrong Faced Cat Feed Collapse , that sound is hard to define but certainly fits in snuggly with the experimental post-shoegaze tip purveyed by his new peers. Like both Bracken and Thee More Shallows, Wisternoff is a rock/pop songwriter first but pushes every boundary he can to unsettle the norm and create a thick atmosphere. The foundation seems to be in British folk which is pretty easily heard on "Wears the Control" and "Halfway Up the Pathway," but rarely does he let the mixing boards stay idle. The closest vibe/atmosphere comparisons would be Hood, Fog and to a reaching extent Arab Strap or Slint; most of the songs are draped in a mellow, eerie haze but with recurrent chaotic outbursts of overmodulating instrumentation and electronics. He also frequents the weird but infectious pop territory of Why? on tracks like "All Agog" but to a much lesser degree. You know I could have pretty easily just labeled it "British folk with Anticon quirk" and been done with it, but I'd feel like I'm selling you short. Which ever description you prefer, SJ Esau is a creative artist who really lives up to the Anticon advancing music requirements and will please fans of the latest label trend to no end. Plus, how fun is it to go up to a record store clerk with a cheery face and ask: "Wrong Faced Cat Feed Collapse please!"

Norman Records::Following on from singles for Twisted Nerve and the split single with Bronnt Industries on Static Caravan, SJ ESAU make an appearance on Anticon . This fits neatly into the labels change of direction into more experimental indie territory. At the core this is very organic sounding with some folk leanings tender vocals and some dramatic volume changes. The use of electronics on here is not overdone and compliments the foundations of the tracks perfectly creating a . What on earth he's doing on the sleeve feeding the cat with a G-clamp on his head I'll never know. I can only imagine it's some sort of smart auto-erotic ritual I've been too slow to catch on to. The fragile vocal with it's effects actually remind me of Bracken . 'Wrong Faced Cat Feed Collapse' is on CD and LP

'Under Certain Things / Arial' - SJ Esau / Bronnt Split 7" reviews

Rough Trade sj esau has worn a track to many avant promoters homes throughout europe, spewing forth some now much sort after cdr's wherever he has played filled to the brim with invention and unique vision. this split for the caravan follows a seven for twisted nerve and a cd for anticon records. bic is the commercial arm of bik, bronnt industries kapitol. static brothers of old, with two releases under their belt for the caravan and more for sink and stove and awkward silence. enough on its own to intrigue we hope. here they deliver a groove led number filled with the spirit of agitation free and stereolab. expect more from these soundtrackophiles soon. strictly limited clear vinyl in clear sleeve edition of 400.

Boomkat Coming on beautiful clear vinyl this little gem comes from SJ Esau (last seen on Andy Votel's Twisted Nerve imprint!) and Bronnt Industries Commercial Division. Well we pretty much confessed our love for Esau last time we had one of his records drop through, and the sentiment still stands, he turns in a lovely bit of folk - a little bit poppier than his last 7" might have suggested he was capable of too. Flip over and Bronnt Industries Commercial Division manage to come up with the goods too with some swooning shoegazer goodness somewhere inbetween early MBV and late Cocteau Twins - utterly life affirming as you can imagine. Limited as ever and it won't last long!!

'All Agog / Idioty' 7" reviews

Boomkat : It sounds totally unlikely but Twisted Nerve are on a roll at the moment, and their latest trickle of 7"s have been really rather excellent. This oddity comes from S.J Esau, not a familiar name, but who needs familiarity when you have something this unusual? Sounding like an elven march recorded in a metal box, this is an utterly enjoyable affair, with each side is rounded off by short Radiophonic Workshop-esque blippy jams. why? Who knows. but let's just enjoy it and dispense with the formalities. Apparently the man has performed alongside Michael Gira, Devandra Banhart and Kimya Dawson, and even done a duet with Lou Barlow - with pedigree like this who can doubt his talent? Not only this though, Esau has recorded with Anticon's Why? 'All Agog' comes packaged in the usually lush packaging and is STRICTLY LIMITED..so hurry up.

Phonica : Five tracks crammed onto one 7" (which seems to be the style with Twisted Nerve), featuring some great artwork that depicts the suffering of a stranded penguin. The sound is an electrified, folk infused tincture, like Matt Eliot with lots of effects. A promising start for Mr Esau, particluarly "All Agog"

Piccadilly Records: A sickly jukebox mix of Danielson Family, Papa M, Jim O'Rourke and The White Noise' could inadequately describe Sam Wisternoff's cut and paste testimonials to those in need of pigeonholes.

Drowned In Sound SJ Esau live review

Rose Kemp, SJ Esau, Babel, Men Diamler at Bristol Seymours Family Club, Wed 20 Sep

There exists in Bristol a sub-community of music fans, the type I imagine/hope exists in every city, who regularly support their own, turn up at every gig by certain artists and enthusiastically engage with every performance. The latest of which takes place in the kitsch working men's atmosphere of Seymour's Family Club.

To take his unassuming posture at face value would be to do an injustice to Sam Wisternoff, for the live spectacle of his hastily assembled magnificent pop (magni-pop?) is almost too much to take in in one go. Forever looping and setting up for choruses spotted on the horizon - these are the moments you cherish and replay in your head for days following. SJ Esau , with a small mixing desk, a few pedals and a seemingly endless imagination, twists tales of love and other planets with haunting multi-tracked vocals and a why? -like sense for off-kilter beats. Even after leaving out one of his album's highlights (an at once touching yet energetic tune about a cat living with its enforced castration) he manages to spread wry smiles throughout the crowd with ‘Insidious Whinge' – ”and it's like waiting for a bus/When it comes it'll probably be full of total utter fucking cunts” .

When an artist hits you somewhere in there so early in the night, the rest can seem like an anti-climax. I'm certain that on any other night Babel would've enchanted and mystified and Men Daimler would've worked perfectly as an observation piece alone, but such a lack of tangible hooks frustrate when so closely preceded by near-perfection. Indeed, the latter of the two demanded attention with an I'm-just-about-to-snap performance wrought with theatrical wailing and snatched guitar strums, but it came off as a case of rather over-egging the cake following a delicate masterclass with fine-tuned ingredients. The former with their six-headed old-fashioned folk are pleasant enough to tap along to on the table tops, but nothing moving enough to engage your head past light conversation with a companion.

The real point of this night is to promote Rose Kemp 's forthcoming single though the seven-inches are “somewhere in customs on their way from the Czech Republic. It probably got held up because it says ‘Violence' on it” . Rather than inciting war upon cheap European vinyl manufacturers, that's the title of her new song, a five-minute cyclone of angst reminiscent of the quiet-LOUD-quiet patterns of, well, everyone. Saying that, what sets her apart from the rest is her beguiling vocal tones. On several occasions during her set she leaves her band-mates looking awkward as she kneels, beginning softly with swooping falsettos before adding and layering to create a wall of acapella pain-tainted melodies. From her earlier role as congenial and endlessly grateful host to the musician wailing on the floor in assumed agony is a remarkable transformation, thankfully leaving her inhibitions out of her act and tapping into an emotion deep inside.

At the end Sam and Rose embrace, encompassing everything about this night into one moment. When you've got friends like these, who needs enemies?

Venue Mag Review of 'Wrong Faced Cat Feed Collapse' album launch with SJ Esau band, Twocsinak and Rasha Shaheen:

Whether Solo or with regular associate Max Milton in tow, Sam 'SJ Esau' Wisternoff has been a welcome rash on the city's musical complexion for long enough to stake a strong claim for 'favourite son' status. Tonight has been arranged to signpost the arrival of new album 'Wrong Faced Cat Feed Collapse', with big things vaunted for its preposterously talented auteur on the strength of auspicious collaborations (a track with Anticon's Why? is currently being bedded, national press coverage, and the simple fact that 'Wrong Face...' deserves to rip free from the shackling shirt of self-distribution. Lou Ferrigno style, to emerge as the label-affiliated hulk of a release it deserves to be. A true sense of 'event' pervades this evening, with sundry treats including films and food, and the support acts gracing the bar area of a throbbingly sold-out Cube for sheer variety's sake. Twocsinak offers a suite of conceptual cut 'n' paste cover versions, entertaining and arcane in equal measure, the highlight being the most wilfully tangential take on Bjork's 'Army Of Me' ever committed to mini-disc. Rasha Shaheen follows, bereft of the galvanising rhythmic might of current band project Male, but instead showcasing the brooding, serrated beauty of her solo material: a rare pleasure.

Onwards to the ain event, a Texas-sized rendering of the SJ Esau sound with a score of versatile collaborators helping reconstruct the towering sonic church of his recordings. We start on familiar terrain with a tentative solo strum through 'Epiphany Coming Through The Wall' before things settle via the charming misanthropy of 'Insidious Winge'. Predictably, it's the full band fare that truly excites: Whalebone Polly provide an angelic undertow to the weary wonder of 'Impossible Sums', while 'Geography' explodes magnificently from its initial torpor, a squadron of trumpeters beating free jazz chaos down upon its fragile loop-based spine. In true errant fashion there is no rousing sing-along finale; instead we get a billowing psychedelic treatment of 'Wears The Control', a maelstrom of yearning confusion that, to lapse into Esau-speak, caps the most gloriously queasy of victories.

- Chris Nicholl

Decode review of SJ Esau at The Porter Cellar Bar (Bath)

SJ Esau, Heard plenty good things, so builds em up from beer table rhythms, simple two note bass lines, guitar and clarinet. Effected vocal swapping to clean vocal mid song, harmonies and violin!! Just the first track! Now clarinet, violin turns to bass, vocal rhythms, cripes! Not at all expected. Remember, only two of them, just sonically amazing, then trumpet over layered concrete sounds, like nothing I've ever heard before. Solo now "sticking out like a freshly laundered thong" "I'm a humanoid" SO AM I. Just guitar and voice, but in no measure could this be considered conventional. "If I had a Hoover with extra suction power" "clean machine" now Max Milton's gonna sing a few tunes on his own, " and while you're tuning I can pretend to be a robot" Unintentionally comic. Perhaps, but comic all the same. "I'm civilized" an acoustic rock song, and with almost grim determination I'm gonna do the set list as planned".

Back to SJ melodica now with layered beats and guitar, like some one man alien orchestra.. Never less than interesting, never less than amusing. As with others who have previously commented, I really rate these guys. The last tune lands in a maelstrom of sonic tweakery with Max on drastic knob twiddling and SJ cymbal punching, table tapping and waving around a custom built light sensitive tone generator. Wish I hadn't paid the council tax, could have taken some tunes with me, still next time maybe? SJ Esau as mad as a fish, but with a definite touch of genius. Recommended, not too often that no money leads to a stunning gig like that.

- Andy Cottle

From the Mole Harness website

It’s rare that you come across someone who creates a musical and lyrical universe of such individuality and inspired insight that it changes the way you see the world; both for the duration of the listen and beyond. Mark Linkous of Sparklehorse is one such artist, and Sam Wisternoff aka S J Esau another. But while Linkous’ world revolves around the shiny wedding portraits, horse tooth keyboards and Texaco bathrooms of abandoned Virginia, the new S J Esau album ‘Wrong Faced Cat Feed Collapse’ immerses the listener in a far more English soundplace; one where Bad Ideas are thrust upon you, and the sky turns to horror as you accidentally change your mind; where flies fly through your retina and rhinos smash up your flat, and where you can “gawp for entire days at the warp of the window frame/ Attempt to make connections without the use of physics knowledge”. Such events and sentiments are complemented perfectly by the astoundingly original arrangements and production. Wisternoff displays not only an infectious love for the infinite possibilities of sound itself, but the (much rarer) ability to harness them effectively. Swooningly lush multi-instrumental layers rub shoulders with one track tape immediacy, loops of spluttering and crackly texture woven right into the songs, psychedelic climaxes of swirling violins, massive drums and insane light-theramin buzz-sweeps, plus absurdly catchy choruses where the only thing stopping you from singing along is that fact that the recording features three different vocalists singing completely different lines at the same time. Such brilliance has led to patronage from ‘Mixing It’ and the late John Peel, as well as Anticon/ Cloudead star Why?, with whom S J Esau collaborated on the ‘Stop Touching My Cat’ remix album. (James Brewster).

Review of 'Wrong Faced Cat Feed Collapse'

And the award for weirdest album title of the year goes, quite probably, to SJ Esau, otherwise known as Bristol resident Sam Wisternoff. It's a quirky album title and no mistake, and it's accompanied by equally quirky album artwork, both of which are extremely apt because this is an exceedingly quirky album. I know what you're thinking: can I carry on with my review of this album without endlessly repeating the word 'quirky'? I'll try my best. On this album Sam (what the S in SJ Esau stands for, if you want to know what the rest is all about then you'll have to look at his website) does tons of stuff, contributing drums, guitar loops, guitars, theremin, bass, and vocals, as well as writing all the songs as far as I'm aware. He's helped out by various friends with their various talents, particularly multi-instrumentalist Max Milton who collaborates with Sam on a regular basis and contributes some very cool violin at various points throughout the album. But what does the album sound like? Well I'd say it's a warped amalgamation of twisted, slightly psychedelic singer-songwriter pop and post rock with a bit of folk, electronica and alt. country thrown in for good measure, kinda like Badly Drawn Boy meets John Vanderslice with Lambchop or Low acting as the backing band. Maybe some of Sam's musical influences will tell you more - cLOUDDEAD, The Beach Boys, Sparklehorse, Mr Bungle, Cornelius, Captain Beefheart, The White Noise, Nico, Kate Bush, They Might Be Giants, the aforementioned Low and Lambchop, but to be honest I don't really think they will. No, if you don't get it from my initial description then you won't get it at all, so really it's something you have to listen to for yourself. In fact it's quite nice to be trying to describe an album that is so difficult to describe as there are only the slightest hints of the influences of other acts and this leads to a very original overall sound. Okay, occasionally some of the songs feel like in-jokes that you're not in on but there's freshness, unpredictability and humour here, all wrapped-up in this distinctly DIY-sounding package. This isn't going to be "the next big thing" but then that's a real blessing. And did I mention it was quirky? (Ian Fairholm)

From Decode Mag review of acoustic SJ Esau gig at Cafe Unlimited

"A triumph of a night was begun by its curator in fabulously understated style. Stripped of his live loups, scratches and beatboxes, and playing solo, we were treated to a short set of sardonic, observational lyrics shot through uncertainity and insecurity. The lyrics, not the perforamnce, that is. With out the musical decor there was added intensity to the barene word and manic guitar work - one man in front of an audience; no microphone, no speakers, no PA - just him and his guitar and while he played nobody said a word." (Theo Berry).

Extracts from Plan B Magazine's live editor - Gracelettes Blog

Best album to hear all year, despite having absolutely nothing to write about it when you’re asked to do so by Plan B: Wrong-Faced Cat Feed Collapse by SJ Esau.

Seriously. Nothing to say. This album makes me happy every time I hear it, sounds like nothing else every time I hear it (not even why?, though the comparison is worth making just cos why-lovers will love this). It’s total genius and inspires no words at all, which is, in itself, a small miracle. Can’t we just sellotape an MP3 to the space where the album review is supposed to be?

.. I arrived just as the market traders were packing up for the day, just as SJ Esau were tuning up and they were so sweetly wonderful... so incredibly homemade and so brave for letting you see exactly how they put everything together, no magic, which of course was all the magic they needed. Where the album leaves me speechless with its otherworldliness, the transparency of the live set moved me and made me smile and when the gawky boy with the hair hiding his face sang words like "when the bus comes, it's always full of total utter cunts", it was with this surprise in his voice like this had all seemed such a good idea when he was scribbling the words at home late at night but that this was the first time he'd actually heard them alive. That very English declamation of self-deprecation. But when he sang the song about the cat having no balls and so living its life in contentment and peace and how "I wanna dream the dream of the cat"... man, it was magic.

From Decode Mag Reveiw of SJ Esau's 'Queezy Epiphany Coming Through The Wall'

"This masterpiece of intelligent music will gently arouse the inquititive, poetic nature of every listener. Each lyric is an acute observation of SJ Esau's world and the musical accompaniment is just as genius. This experimental album is a massive collection of different sounds that reaches perfection in its tittle track."

From 'Slave to the music' review of SJ Esau at The Croft

"A single deck for scratching, the usual array of boxes and instruments made for another interesting gig from the organic ever-changing SJ Esau. Here we have more layered samples of live instruments, distorted singing interspersed with violin, clarinet, melodica. I should be bored of these songs by now, I've heard them enough times, but the thing about the genius of Sam and his many, many guises is he always seems to be able to bring something fresh to the music."

Blurb from 'Bring Yourself Festival'

"Unpredictable and playful, S J Esau takes up where 70's psychedelia and early-90's lo-fi pop experimentalism left off, taking the notion anything-goes, and going all the way.... Making use of electronic effects, simple acoustic guitar, his calm voice and whatever or whoever else is around, Sam Wisternoff's songs move from quirky humour to barely audible introspection."

Rustic Rod of Etherial Counterbalance review of 'Queezy Beliefs'

"Mr. Esau sings sweet yet twisted tales from his own unique world of ‘found’ sounds and scratchy atmospherics. One moment spitting vitriolic sarcasm, while the next it’s all just so achingly sad and vulnerable. And so it comes…….one future psychedelic classic after another. Massive amounts of joyful and sinister sounds wash over you, in a flood of catchy & artful pop sensibility. Unforgetable songs. Already signed to Camera Obscura, (fancy a pre-release harken?) this is bizarre and very beautiful !!"

From Gigwise review of Onanist Homework Robot and the Guano Ignoramus at The Croft

"Who needs instruments? Not The Onanist Homework Robot and the Guano Ignoramus, that's for sure though, with a little help from Max Milton, they do choose to add violin, trumpet, xylophone, scratches and the odd bit of guitar their sound is driven by voices as pure as oil soaked snow. Computer generated smut, looped whistling and singing, megaphones, samples, rapid reading from a novel, shouting and general groaning are the key components of this collaboration between Team Brick and SJ Esau. They construct vast, dirty, dominating soundmares that throw song structure out the window like the out of date, passé conceit it is. The tracks are diverse, spanning controlled, gentle multi-layered vocal loops, to wild wig outs when the pair of them drum madly on anything to hand. While the instrumental embellishments are great, these guys could make music out of a matchstick."

From Gigwise review of the October Revolution gig

" The champion of the nascent spasmacoustica genre was ably aided by multi-instrumentalist Max Milton who added wondrous bass lines, violent violin and Coltrane-esque trumpet, which, on one occasion, was played through the violin pick-up to great effect. Brilliant. And yet, these extra dimensions were just extras; a complementary side serving if you will. The deck-scratching and live looping of percussive guitar on 'All Agog', the truly barmy and enlightening lyrics of 'And you notice'; these alone were enough to earn Sam rapturous and deserved plaudits from tonight's compeers, DJs Gary and Richard from http://www.bristoluncovered.info/. The latter, in particular, with it's straight forward delivery and beautifully simplistic sing-a-long chorus ("and you notice…. this-ii-is") that you can't quite sing-a-long to demonstrates that there is so much more to this most inventive live performer. Strip way the breathy beatbox, the wrong-hop produced by the delayed string scratches, and the countless other sonic tricks and you find a writer able to think beyond the usual confines of common themes. The meditation on a child's first realisation of the world that takes place during the "pop hit" final number 'Epiphany Coming Through the Wall' can only be explained in these terms: "Next door there's a person known as George,/ He's looking at walking,/ But he doesn't do talking./ He's silly and he isn't very tall,/ According to his mum,/ He's only been alive 6 months./ Epiphany, coming through the wall…all…all." True readers, this reviewer has seen SJ Esau previously on numerous other occasions; but there is a reason why I, and many others, keep coming back."

Review of Sink and Stove's 'Hospital Radio Request List Voll II' CD from Losing Today

"Bristol's formidable Sink and Stove records celebrates it fourth birthday this year, a label that's fast gaining a reputation as one of the leading exponents currently trawling the underground's fine seam of quality sounds. Each release under the careful supervision of Ben Shillabeer is carefully tendered to, infrequent the output and release rate may be but then quality is something of an art that you have to be precious with so as not to dilute the end result. Having graced us with two of the best albums of last year, Gravenhurst's 'Flashlight Seasons' and the awesome debut 'Good beneath the radar' from the seasons hotly tipped Playwrights (both of whom incidentally feature within), 'The Hospital Radio Request List Volume 2' serves not only as a sharing of the birthday cake spoils but as a double pronged showcase of labels passionate ear for a good tune and a hitherto broadside shot to their rivals while serving as a timely shakedown for the majors.

Lovingly packaged to include a detailed 24 page booklet along with 21 of the most crucial sounds around all for the measly price of a brace of CD singles there really is no competition or excuse, is there?! Not solely restricted to showcasing the labels roster, 'Hospital Radio' offers out the invites to friends, associates and whosoever out there has given cause to impress upon the community so among the shopping list of talent you get Losing Today house favourites the spikey Lomax, the critically underrated Dudley Corporation who serve up the skewiff Pavement-esque '3rd Song' which you'll be happy to note is not from their must have album 'In love with….' which we've enjoyed so much that I guess a review is long overdue. The eminent Mr John Parish kicks in with the wah-wah crazy 'Speed of Life' that kinda sounds like Eric Clapton on LSD doing his best T-Rex motifs with the strains of Morricone hiding in the shadows playing peek-a-boo, and my God its been far too long since we heard anything by ex Codeine Chris Brokaw the feint enchantment of 1999's 'Tricks of trapping' by Snares and Kites still burns, here we find him in acoustic mode recorded live and sounding quite dandy for the experience neatly falling into the gentle cascade of the National's quite sublime 'Wasp's Nest'.

So something for everyone as I think the saying goes, from shimmering aural sound-scapes (the magnificent emotionally rugged Mole Harness) blending superbly with loon pop (War against Sleep in strangely fine fettle doing crooked campfire blues), add in a little post punk in the capable hands of the awesome Billy Mahonie, the beautifully etched pastoral serenity of Caroline Martin and what sounds like some recently found ancient heirloom of a recording from the classically nimble RLF, haunting stuff albeit sweetly sombre.

Elsewhere Morning Star edge their bets with the rhythmically bountiful incandescent pop of 'Rainboland', a band whose album 'My place in the dust' still, like most albums befitting the description classic, manages to occasionally find its way onto the Hi-Fi nearly three years since its original release. And really how could we not get by doing a review from Sink and Stove without mentioning the Playwrights', 'Welcome to the middle ages', well what can you say, can these lads kick back side or can they kick back side, the last word in post punk grooviness, take my word for it. Best cut of the bulging bunch though is, by a short nose, Sj Esau's 'Queezy Beliefs' which comes across like a more lightened Black Heart Procession and will blow you away regardless whether you have taste or not, ones to watch methinks. Essential stuff in a word (or two, as the case may be)".